Multiple Injuries, Damage to Apartments After Three-Alarm Fire at 917 Clinton St.

A fire on the fourth floor of an apartment building at 917 Clinton Street left dozens of people homeless early Saturday.

The three-alarm fire broke out around 11 p.m. Friday. By 12:20 a.m., the fire was out, but 51 families were unable to get back into their apartment building. At least six people sustained minor injuries and four firemen were taken to the hospital.

City Spokesman Juan Melli, who was at the scene, said that residents of neighboring 915 Clinton St.—which was also evacuated earlier in the evening—were allowed back inside a little after 1 a.m.

Three apartments seemed to have been damaged by the fire, and water damage to others was expected. The exact amount of damage to the building was unclear early Saturday morning. 

Two people were seen on stretchers at the scene—one of them an elderly woman—and two people were transported to the Hoboken University Medical Center early Saturday morning. In total, four people were treated at the scene, but refused further medical care.

Melli said that three firemen suffered from smoke inhalation and one fireman suffered a hand injury. Around 12:30 a.m. Melli said it was unclear when residents could return to the building.

At least three apartments were reported on fire on the fourth floor of the building.

The building, which has more than 100 residents, was evacuated completely as was 915 Clinton St. At the time of the fire, hundreds of spectators gathered in Columbus Park. Around 12:50 a.m., the crowd began to disperse.

Nearby resident Perry Belfiore, whose mother lives in one of the apartments that caught fire on Friday night, said he remembers a devastating fire that started at the same location roughly 15 years ago.

A shelter was set up at the high school's cafeteria for displaced residents directly after the fire. Roughly 40 residents were at Hoboken High around 1 a.m.

Multiple streets were blocked off due to the fire, at Ninth and Clinton and Eighth and Grand.

This is the third major fire in roughly three months in Hoboken; previously two buildings burned down, . in February and in December.